In New York City and D.C., there’s a gender pay gap — for men under 30.
Nationally, women in that age group earn about 93 cents on the dollar compared to men. But in 22 of 250 U.S. metropolitan areas, women under 30 make the same or more than their male counterparts, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. The report, based on 2019 median annual earnings, doesn’t reflect the impact from the pandemic.
The gender gap in favor of women under 30 in New York and Washington is slim — they make 102% of what their male peers earn — but it’s rare enough to be highlighted. The Pew analysis shows parity for people in that age group in the Los Angeles metro area.
Overall, Pew found that about 16% of women under 30 who were working full-time lived in cities where they are at or above parity.
For the rest of American women in that group, the wage gap remains an inescapable reality. They earn 90 to 99% of what their male counterparts make in 107 metros and 80 to 89% in another 103 cities.
And while the gender gap has narrowed for younger people as more women attain higher education, the pay gap worsens with age, in part due to the so-called motherhood penalty.
From a regional perspective, Midwestern metros tend to have wider gender wage gaps among workers under 30, with women earning about 90% of what men make, the Pew report shows.
Women in that age group earn 79% or less of what men make in 18 metros. They include Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Mansfield, Ohio; Odessa, Texas; and Elkhart, Indiana.
